US State Department's Guantanamo envoy resigns

[babylonsister]

I love my source! And baby steps...

US State Department's Guantanamo envoy resigns
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 11:33


Washington: The State Department envoy responsible for negotiating prisoner transfers from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is resigning, officials said on Monday, even as President Barack Obama is promising a stepped-up push to close the facility.

The surprise announcement of Clifford Sloan’s departure followed a flurry of detainee repatriations and resettlements, though officials at the State Department and White House had made clear their frustration with the slow handling of such moves by outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Sloan assumed the post in July 2013 and the State Department said he was stepping down and returning to his Washington law practice after finishing an 18-month commitment.

snip//

“I’m going to be doing everything I can to close it,” Obama told CNN in an interview broadcast on Sunday, renewing a pledge he made to shut the internationally condemned prison when he took office nearly six years ago.

He said keeping the prison open “continues to inspire jihadists” around the world and is “wildly expensive.”

But he faces obstacles posed by the US Congress, not least of which is a ban on the transfer of prisoners to the US mainland.

more...

http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/us-state-departments-guantanamo-envoy-resigns_1519071.html

[cwydro]

1. Rachel has been on this story

tonight.

Interesting.

[babylonsister]

4. No, calculated. That's where I got it from. Something

I didn't know about, Rachel shared. And DU?

[cwydro]

10. Lol.

Point taken.

[Boreal]

2. None of these prisoners should be sent to the US mainland

They should be flown home and released. I don't even care if some really are "terrorists". The US invaded and had no right to take these people prisoner. If they pose any danger, let their own countries determine that but send them home.

[Recursion]

5. In the Kafkaesque way of things, it's illegal for us to send them home

Because... wait for it... they might be tortured.

[Boreal]

6. No shit?

That is Kafkaesque! It's also bullshit. It becomes an excuse for indefinite imprisonment. Right up there with killing people to save them.

[Recursion]

7. Yup. If we had simply granted them POW/EPW status to begin with

then this wouldn't be a problem and we could keep them as long as hostilities lasted. But then we couldn't have tortured them.

[Boreal]

9. The so called "war on terror"

is meant to never end so anyone caught under it as a prisoner is doomed. No country should be taking anyone but but uniformed official military and then only in a declared war.

What a fucked up country we have. The Hegemon.

[Fred Sanders]

3. Obama fired him for standing in the way of transfers, as did Hagel....will the joy never end?

Zeenews is awesome, I know of them.

[Cha]

8. Tweet pic from SOS Kerry on Cliff Sloan

John Kerry ✔ @JohnKerry
Follow
Huge progress closing GTMO thx to Cliff Sloan, moved 34 detainees this year alone. Much more ahead. Grateful.
6:00 AM - 23 Dec 2014 129 Retweets 122 favorites

http://theobamadiary.com/2014/12/23/2014-arapahos-most-memorable-moments/

Obama eyes remaining Guantánamo detainees for transfers

snip//

The Defense secretary is responsible for personally verifying that a released detainee won't return to the battlefield, and for signing off on any transfer, with 30 days' notice to appropriate congressional committees.

Hagel had expressed reluctance on signing off on the detainee transfers in May, which reportedly led to a clash between him and the administration that played a role in his departure. However, he has signed off on at least 16 transfers since November

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/227853-more-gitmo-detainee-transfers-looming

Obama Turns The Tables On Republicans By Arguing That Gitmo Is Too Expensive To Keep Open

snip//

Obama was correct. Taxpayers are currently spending $2.8 million per person per year to house the detainees at Gitmo. In contrast, the most expensive Supermax prison in the country costs taxpayers $78,000 per inmate per year. Without considering the moral, ethical and legal issues, Gitmo is an expensive and inefficient way of housing the detainees.

MOre
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/21/obama-turns-tables-republicans-arguing-gitmo-expensive-open.html